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GILLAN
Live Triple Trouble
(Edsel)

WHEN I was drumming for Black Sabbath in 1983 and 1984 , the lead singer of the band was Ian Gillan, and we became good friends.

Ian is most famous, though, for fronting Deep Purple, and only a couple of weeks ago they played Birmingham's LG Arena.

However, in the years that Ian was not with Deep Purple, before re-joining them in 1985, he made many solo albums.

This 3-CD set consists of live performances from the early 80s.

Disc one was recorded at London's Rainbow Theatre in April 1981 and features such rockers as Unchain Your Brain, Bite The Bullet and Purple anthem Smoke On The Water.

Disc two features songs from BBC Radio 1 series Friday Rock Show recorded later in '81 and includes No Laughing In Heaven, Vengeance and Born To Kill.

Disc three features Ian and his band headlining the Reading Festival in August 1981.

Exactly two years later he would be doing the same thing alongside Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and myself with Black Sabbath!

My enduring memory of Ian was how he could party until the early hours, yet still be first up in the morning, with no sign of a hangover, greeting us with a cheery "Good morning chaps!"

Then he'd go on to complete the Times crossword!

Every week on my radio show, ( BBC WM, Sunday afternoons 2 'til 4, and repeated for 7 days on BBC Iplayer ) I have a quiz - and it's proving to be incredibly popular.

So, are YOU really into your music - do you consider yourself a bit of an expert on rock, pop, soul, blues, rock'n'roll, country, etc ? If so, you are going to love my brand new weekly blog.

Every week, beginning today, there will be a "BEV BEVAN'S POP QUIZ" - 10 very varied questions that might cover any genre of popular music spanning the past 50 years or so - from Fifties pop and rock'n'roll right up to the present day.

VARIOUS ARTISTS: Honey And Wine (Ace)

THIS is the second foray by the Ace record label into the huge folio of Goffin and King compositions, celebrating one of the most lauded songwriting partnerships of all time.

As a youngster Gerry Goffin developed a taste for Broadway musicals and began creating songs in his head.

He enrolled at college to study chemistry and it was there he met 17 year-old Carole King, a keen amateur songwriter in search of a lyricist. They hit it off straight away, penned a few songs together and dropped out of college to get married.

In 1960 they joined Carole's friend Neil Sedaka at New York's Aldon Music as staff songwriters, and within two years became the most successful songsmiths in the country.

Amongst original versions of songs included here are Bobby Vee's Go Away Little Girl (before Steve Lawrence got his hands on it), and The Rising Sons' Take A Giant Step (later covered by The Monkees).

Not to be missed is Nancy Wilson's No Easy Way Down, which Dusty Springfield included on her brilliant Dusty In Memphis album.

There's also the US hits Oh No Not My Baby by Maxine Brown, Gene McDaniel's Point Of No Return, and Gene Pitney's Every Breath You Take.

Over this side of the pond there are UK successes Pleasant Valley Sunday by The Monkees and Up On The Roof by The Drifters.

There are also overlooked gems such as Chuck Jackson's I Need You, Freddie Scott's Brand New World and Jody Miller's very non-politically correct He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss.